According to the International Centre for Prison Studies, the United States has the highest prison population per capita in the world. In 2009, for example, 1 out of every 135 U.S. residents was incarcerated. Generally, inmates convicted of felony offenses serve long sentences in prison (e.g., federal or state prisons), whereas those convicted of misdemeanors receive shorter sentences to be served in jail (e.g., county jail). In either case, while awaiting trial, a suspect or accused may remain incarcerated. During his or her incarceration, an inmate may have opportunities to communicate with the outside world.
By allowing prisoners to have some contact with friends and family while incarcerated, the justice system aims to facilitate their transition back into society upon release. Traditional forms of contact include telephone calls, in-person visitation, conjugal visits, etc. More recently, technological advances have allowed jails and prisons to provide other types of visitation, including individual-to-individual videoconferences and online chat sessions.
Traditional communication services of controlled-environment facilities (such as correctional facilities) include allowing residents (e.g., inmates) to place outbound phone calls to non-residents of the controlled-environment facility. However, residents of controlled-environment facilities are typically restricted from unauthorized communications with individuals outside of the controlled-environment facility. For example, in correctional facilities, inmates are typically prohibited from unauthorized communications with individuals outside of the correctional facility. Thus, many controlled-environment facilities implement systems that aim to prevent communications to unauthorized individuals.
One system that may be used, for example, in the context of telecommunications systems, may implement an account for each resident of the controlled-environment facility. The account for each resident may be associated with the resident's name and personal identification number (PIN), a financial account for payment of communications, and various biometric indications, such as sample voice recordings, for ensuring that the person using the account for communications is the resident identified with the account. A resident, once enrolled in the account, can then access the account for communications, such as telephone calls.
In some instances, it may be important to ensure that the person actually placing a telephone call is the resident associated with the account used to place the telephone call. The account can be used to restrict to whom a call can be placed, and recordings of the call can be monitored to identify illicit or illegal activity. Hence, it is important that controlled-environment facilities can be confident that the person placing the call is the appropriate resident associated with the account so that calls can be appropriately restricted and the proper person can be identified as carrying out any illicit or illegal activities. However, this can be undermined if the person enrolling in the account is not actually the resident associated with the account.